


Eat Your Heart Out

by mylittlecthulhu (marineko)



Category: Arashi (Band), Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: AU, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-17
Updated: 2010-02-17
Packaged: 2017-10-22 21:04:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/242571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marineko/pseuds/mylittlecthulhu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aiba Masaki remembers the first day at cooking school.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eat Your Heart Out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [arashic0804](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=arashic0804).



Aiba Masaki remembers the first day at cooking school. He had only graduated from college, and was expecting to help out at his family’s restaurant, when his father suggested that he studied cooking properly first. He didn’t think it was entirely necessary - he had learned from the best, helping out his dad in the kitchen since he was young. Nevertheless, he thought the idea had some merit, so he enrolled for a one-year study programme at a local institution.

He hadn’t expected for most of the other students to be so much older than him. About half of them were housewives who took it up as a hobby, while the other half were men and women who were very serious about the culinary arts. Aiba, who had never really cooked anything that’s not on the menu of Keikarou, had no idea where he stood among them. When he saw Matsumoto Jun, he was relieved at first, because there was at least one other person around his age. 

“We younger ones should stick together!” he had chirped to the other man on the day they met. He was only met with a blank stare, but he didn’t let that dampen his spirits. “So, so, what’s your name?”

He thought the other man wouldn’t answer him at first, as he looked disdainfully at Aiba’s wild mane, which would not be tamed even though Aiba had taken care to wear a bandana.  _Maybe he didn’t hear me_ , Aiba thought, and was about to speak again, when the other man said, with a little sigh, “Matsumoto.”

“That’s too long...” Aiba said, reading the Matsumoto’s name-tag. “I’ll call you Jun instead, okay? I’m Aiba - it’s a lot shorter than Masaki and I can tell that you’re not into speaking too much so I think that’s easier for you to handle, right?” He offered Jun a wide smile, but Jun only frowned at him, before looking at the dish set before Aiba.

“Did you make that?” he asked Aiba. On the first day, all the students were told to cook their specialty - whatever it was - and present it to the teacher for tasting. That way their teacher would have an idea about everyone’s level before they start, or something. Aiba wasn’t sure of the purpose, as he wasn’t really listening to what the teacher was saying.

“Hmm?” Aiba looked at what Jun was referring to. “Oh, yeah, that’s our restaurant’s signature dish. Why don’t you try some? It’s incredible!”

Jun accepted the chopsticks Aiba proffered him, and sampled his cooking. “It’s not too bad,” Jun said. “But if you say this is your signature dish... are you the cook at your restaurant?”

“No, I’m not. My dad’s the cook - he’s way better than I am, of course, but I’ve been training with him ever since I could remember.”

“That’s good,” Jun said, still not showing much expression. “I was going to say, this is all right for a beginner, but I don’t think it’s good enough to serve customers.” He paused. “And can you do something about your hair? Because it’s really messy and distracting.”

})i({

“That Jun guy is such a jerk!” Aiba cried out during his lunch time. He had immediately ran to the game shop where his best friend worked. Nino was “testing” a new PC game that had come in the store that day, and didn’t even look up when Aiba came running in.

“Assuming I know who this Jun person is, why is he a jerk?” Nino asked calmly, furiously tapping on the keyboard. “Die already, damn it!”

“He said my cooking is  _not bad_! Can you believe the nerve of that guy?”

“Uh huh. He said your cooking is  _not bad_ , so he’s obviously a jerk. Got it. Fucking zombies! Why can’t they just stay dead?”

“That’s not all! He said that my hair is  _messy_!”

At this point Nino spared a short glance at Aiba. He had taken off his bandana (as he only wore it during work and class) and all Nino could think of was that Aiba resembled... a lion. “But your hair  _is_ messy,” he said simply, and went back to his game.

“Ni~noooo,” Aiba wailed again, and Nino winced at the loudness. “How could you say that? You’re supposed to be my best friend! We’re supposed to stick together through thick and thin, no matter what!”

“No, friends are supposed to tell each other the truth, even when it hurts,” Nino retorted. “I swear, if they don’t stay dead this time, I’m going to fucking kill them!”

Aiba paused for a moment to contemplate Nino’s words.  _Friends are supposed to tell each other the truth, even when it hurts_. “Does that mean... Jun is my friend?” he asked Nino.

“I told you I don’t know this Jun person,” Nino replied. “Why are you so fixated about this guy anyway?”

“No reason...” Aiba admitted. “It’s just that, he’s the only one in class that around my age. He’s younger, actually, so I thought it’s kind of cool, you know, to be that young and in that class. He looks really cool too, like a model or something. But he has an attitude problem, kind of like you I guess. You’ll really like him.”

“Sounds like you have a crush on him,” Nino muttered, ignoring what Aiba said about him.

“What are you talking about?” Aiba said, laughing nervously. “I just said he’s cool because that’s what he is - you’d know what I’m talking about if you met him. I don’t have crushes on people I just met!”

“Ohno Satoshi,” Nino said in reminder. Ohno was their senior in school. Aiba was carrying a large stack of books for their homeroom teacher once and walked into a wall, dropping all the books. Ohno-senpai was there, and he had helped Aiba pick up the books and even walked Aiba back to class. For the rest of the school year, Aiba had followed Ohno around like a lovesick puppy - Nino didn’t know what was embarrassing, the fact that Aiba actually stalked Ohno in school or the fact that Ohno didn’t notice at all.

Aiba reddened. “I was young. I was stupid. Plus, Ohno-senpai was  _really nice_ , unlike that jerk Matsumoto, so there’s no way I’d have a crush on  _him_.”

“Sakurai Sho,” Nino said again. Sho was a teacher’s assistant at Aiba’s college. He had a bad temper and was feared by most of the students - especially since their actual lecturer usually left the grading and other schoolwork to Sho instead of doing it himself - but Aiba had insisted that no one who looked like that could  _really_  be that bad, and appointed himself as the chairman of the Sakurai Sho Fan Club. He had tried to “loosen Sho up” by cracking jokes during class, trying to get Sho to go drinking with him, and even made lunches for Sho sometimes. Aiba barely passed that semester, and Nino suspected that the only reason Sho didn’t fail Aiba was because he didn’t want to have to go through the same ordeal for another semester.

“He wasn’t a jerk!” Aiba said defensively. “I just know that when no one’s looking, he eats every single thing I cooked for him, because he secretly loves me! He’s just shy...”

“Uh huh,” Nino answered patronisingly. “Whatever you say. Isn’t it about time you got back to class anyway?”

“Huh?” Aiba looked at his watch. “Oh, shit. I have to go. Bye, Nino!” he called out as he sped out of the game store.

})i({

Class had already started when Aiba arrived, panting from all the running. The teacher didn’t even deign to look at him as he apologised and took his place next to Jun. Because he was thinking about his conversation with Nino, he played around with the idea of having a crush on the younger man. He sneaked a glance to his right, and his breath caught at the sight of Jun cooking.  _That’s just because he looked so cool doing it_ , Aiba thought.  _How come I don’t look like that when I’m cooking?_  

Someone tapped on his shoulder from behind. Aiba turned to see his elderly teacher. “Aiba-kun,” the teacher said. “I know this is supposed to be a simple dish, but you have to at least start preparing your ingredients by now.”

“Oh, right,” Aiba said, and went back to his work.

})i({

The next few weeks, Aiba still tried to be friendly with Jun - meaning that he had chatted non-stop about random subjects, tried to get Jun to sample more of his cooking, tried to sample Jun’s cooking (Jun just swatted his hands away if they got too near), and even tried to ask Jun out for lunch to meet Nino (Jun always refused). Jun still tried to keep to himself, which meant that he barely acknowledged Aiba’s presence, and concentrated on nothing but his cooking. Sometimes it proved to be difficult, though, and he spent entire classes looking like he might burst a vein at any moment.

One evening after class, Jun was about to leave when he saw that Aiba was looking glumly at his (overly) burned orange panna cotta. “Why are you staring at it like an idiot?” Jun asked.

“I can’t do anything right,” Aiba said mournfully. “I can cook Chinese food all right, I guess, but other than that, I never get anything right.”

Jun walked over to Aiba, and picked up a spoon to sample Aiba’s dessert. “It tastes good,” he said, “despite the fact that it’s burned. If you spent more time concentrating on what you’re doing instead of chatting, maybe it’ll even turn out perfect.” 

He left without saying another word, but Aiba stared after him. Aiba’s heart leapt.  _He said it tastes good!_  He felt like he was on cloud nine, and floated away to meet Nino, whose shift at the store was almost over.  _He’s really a sweet guy inside_ , Aiba decided about Jun.

})i({

Jun was his normal prickly self the next day, and the day after that, but Aiba didn’t change his mind. Knowing that Jun was usually the last to leave class, Aiba had started to stay behind as well, so that he would have more time to talk to Jun. 

“...so Nino said, I should have booked the tickets for next week instead, because I forgot that he couldn’t get any time off this week, but really how hard must it be to get some time off? All he does is play video games anyway, even when he’s at work. And to make matters worse, he really - hey!”

Jun had walked into the elevator, and pressed the close button so that it would close before Aiba could get in. Aiba quickly pressed the button for the elevator from outside, and it opened again. “That’s really mean of you, Jun! Why would you do that? We’re friends, aren’t we? I’ve been so nice to you but you’re always mean,” Aiba complained. “I’m so sick of being ignored by you all the time - what, do you think you’re so much better than everyone else in class? Or is it that - hey, what are you doing?” Aiba asked the last question nervously as Jun stepped closer to him.

“Shutting you up,” Jun muttered, leaning closer and tilting Aiba’s head up towards him. Aiba just stared into Jun’s eyes, speechless, as Jun’s mouth descended on his. He barely had time to react or contemplate kissing Jun back before Jun ended the kiss and smiled slowly. “You taste like burned panna cotta,” Jun said. “And you’re a lot cuter when you’re quiet. I should’ve kissed you a long time ago.”

When Aiba came to his senses, Jun had already left, and the elevator was on its way up again. He quickly pressed the button for the next floor, so that he could run down using the staircase. But as quick as he was, Jun was already out of sight by the time he reached the lobby of the building.

 _Nino_ , he thought, and ran all the way to the game store. Nino was already waiting in front, a scowl on his face.

“You’re late!” Nino said.

“Nino,” Aiba said, out of breath, “I think I’m in love!”

Nino rolled his eyes at Aiba’s words. “I could’ve told you that ages ago. All you ever talk about is That Jerk Jun this, and That Jerk Jun that.” 

Aiba smiled brightly, not taking offense at Nino calling Jun a jerk. He had the best friend the world could offer, he thought, and he was just kissed by Matsumoto Jun. Life, he decided, was absolutely perfect.


End file.
